PRTG Manual: Update From Previous Versions

If you already have a previous software version installed, there are several things you have to consider before you update to the current PRTG version. See section Detailed System Requirements to see all requirements for the current PRTG version.

In certain cases, antivirus software like Windows Defender interferes with the PRTG installer. This might cause high CPU load on the PRTG server, which might prevent a successful update of PRTG. Please temporarily disable Windows Defender and other antivirus software if you have issues installing PRTG updates.

On PRTG hosted by Paessler instances, the update process is managed automatically, so you do not have to care about updating your PRTG.

Update from PRTG Network Monitor 16.1.22 or later

If you run PRTG Network Monitor with version 16.1.22 or later, simply install the latest version on top of the previous version. Your configuration will be kept. PRTG automatically updates remote probes as well. If you have configured PRTG as a cluster, you only have to install an update on any node server (master or failover). PRTG automatically deploys the new version to the cluster.

We recommend that you use the Auto-Update of PRTG to install the latest version. Please always have a proper backup of your monitoring data.

Important notes:

PRTG 18.3.43: PRTG does not start and run on outdated Windows versions like Windows Server 2003 R2 anymore. Please make sure you install PRTG on an officially supported operating system.

PRTG 17.3.34: This version comes with a completely rewritten web interface. If you have customized the PRTG web interface using one of the dedicated files in a previous version, all your customizations will be lost as soon as you install PRTG 17.3.34. You will have to redo your changes to keep the customizations. For details, see the Knowledge Base: Customizing and Re-Branding the PRTG Web Interface

As of version 16.1.22, PRTG is signed with renewed certificates. To be able to seamlessly update to version 16.1.22 or later, an intermediate update is required for the PRTG core server and all probes if you currently run a PRTG version previous to 16.1.21.1691/1692. If you auto-update from previous versions (lower than 16.1.21.1691/1692), PRTG will automatically install this intermediate version first. You have to perform an additional auto-update to install the latest version. PRTG will notify you with a ticket about this approach. Your configuration will be kept.

We recommend that you use the auto-update to install the latest PRTG version. If you update manually with an installer downloaded from the Paessler online shop, the intermediate update is only necessary if you currently run a PRTG version previous to 16.1.21.1691/1692 with one or more remote probes or in a cluster setup. If you do not perform this intermediate update, you will have to update your remote probes and cluster nodes manually. Please contact our technical support team to get the installer for this version if you do not use the auto-update.

As of PRTG 14, Internet Explorer 9 is no longer officially supported for access to the PRTG web interface.

Also as of PRTG 14, PRTG core and probes no longer officially support Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (including SP1 and SP2).

As of PRTG 15, Internet Explorer 10 is no longer officially supported for access to the PRTG web interface.

Removed Sensor Types as of PRTG Network Monitor 16.2.25

We have removed several sensor types from PRTG with version 16.2.25. Sensors of these types that you still use in your PRTG installation will stop monitoring and show a down status as soon as you update to 16.2.25 or later. Most of the affected sensor types have been deprecated as of PRTG version 16.2.23 or before. You will receive tickets from PRTG that inform you if your PRTG setup is affected.

These sensor types were used by very few PRTG users and/or created substantial load for both our technical support and development team. We believe that the majority of PRTG users prefers that we focus on features that many customers use every day rather than spending our precious energy on niche issues. We want to keep PRTG as easy to use as possible!

As of PRTG version 13.2.3, the website folder of the PRTG program directory is not used anymore. This means that if you update from a PRTG version older than 13.2.3 to the current version, all existing customizations of the web interface will be disabled and you have to revise them. You may find a way for a similar customization that you can add to the files in the current webroot folder that contains the web interface files now.

We strongly recommend that you perform a clean install of the latest PRTG version instead of updating from an existing PRTG 9 or 12!

If you use PRTG 9 or 12 now, your configuration will be kept when installing the current PRTG version in Standalone Mode or when installing a Master Node. There are only a few things you should consider.

We recommend that you always have a proper backup of your monitoring data.

Intermediate versions: You have to install two intermediate versions before you can update to the latest version.

If you currently run PRTG version 12.4.5.3164/3165 or lower, install the intermediate version 12.4.7.3507 before you proceed.

If you have installed version 12.4.7.3507, install the intermediate version 16.1.21.1691/1692 before you proceed. Afterwards you can seamlessly update to the latest PRTG version. For details about this intermediate update, see section Update from PRTG Network Monitor 13.1.1 through 16.1.21 above.

We recommend that you use the Auto-Update feature. In this case PRTG will automatically install the intermediate versions. Run the auto-update three times if you come from a version previous to 12.4.7.3507, run it twice if you come from a version previous to 16.1.21.1691/1692. If you do not use the auto-update, please contact our technical support team to get the installers for these intermediate versions.

Discontinued Sensors: Existing instances of the following sensor types will stop working as of PRTG V12 and must be replaced with their successor sensor types!- VMware Host Server (SOAP)- VMware Virtual Machine (SOAP)- Xen Virtual MachineIf your configuration contains these sensor types, they will stop monitoring after upgrading to the current version. We recommend that you to pause them to keep their data. To continue monitoring, please add the sensors anew (for example, using the auto-discovery).

Please install .NET 4.0: We strongly recommend that you install .NET 4.0 on systems that run the core server (and the remote probes, if you use those). Otherwise the following features will not work: VMware auto-discovery and monitoring, Citrix XenServer auto-discovery and monitoring, SIP Options Ping sensor, Windows Last Update sensor (deprecated as of PRTG 16.x.23).

Changed Geo Maps Provider: When you update to the current PRTG version, the provider for geographical maps will automatically be switched from Google Maps to MapQuest (using Open Street Map data).

Windows 2000 Not Supported: Since PRTG 7 we do not officially support Windows 2000 systems anymore. This means that PRTG cannot be installed on systems running Windows 2000, and you cannot officially monitor Windows 2000 systems (for example, via WMI). However, if you could successfully monitor your Windows 2000 systems with PRTG 9, this might actually not be possible anymore with the current PRTG version.

We recommend that you have a look at the Detailed System Requirements before updating to the current version! Officially supported operating systems, browsers, and other requirements may have changed since version 9.

Update from PRTG Network Monitor 7 or 8

We strongly recommend that you perform a clean install of the latest PRTG version instead of updating from an existing PRTG 7 or 8!

If you use PRTG 7 or 8 now, you have to update PRTG to intermediate versions first to ensure all data is carried over correctly. You cannot update to PRTG 15 or later directly from PRTG 7 or 8!

We recommend that you first update to the latest PRTG 8 version.

From the latest PRTG 8 version, update to PRTG version 9.

From PRTG 9, update to both intermediate versions 12.4.7.3507 and 16.1.21.1691/1692 and then to the current PRTG version.

Packet Sniffer (Content) sensors are not supported anymore. Existing sensors of this type will automatically be switched to Packet Sniffer (Header) sensors after the update. As a benefit, you can now also sniff IPv6 traffic.

Internet Explorer 8 is no longer supported for access to the Ajax web interface.

You may experience a slow Enterprise Console (former 'Windows GUI') due to different reasons.

When installing a failover node on top of an existing standalone PRTG 7, 8, 9, 12, or 13+ installation, the configuration cannot be kept and is written to a backup folder. Then, the new cluster configuration is received from the master node of the cluster. As all nodes work with the same configuration, a failover node's old configuration and monitoring data can no longer be used. If you want to keep a configuration of PRTG 7, please install the master node on top of the old installation and use other servers for the failover node installations.

Since PRTG 9 the SNMP sensors use the IPv4 Outgoing IP set for the probe service (this setting was formerly ignored by those sensors, using the auto setting instead). If you experience failing sensors, please check the setting in the probe settings.

If you have (manually) configured the PRTG probe or PRTG core service to run under a different Windows user account (for example, for successful internet access through an ISA server firewall), please apply the respective Windows user account for the "PRTGProbeService" and/or "PRTGCoreService" anew after installing the current PRTG version.

If you use the default data path in your PRTG setup, it will be changed automatically. Up to version 8 all data was stored in a subfolder reflecting a PRTG version number (v7 or v8). As of version 9 this subfolder is omitted, and data is stored directly in %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Application data\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor. During setup, all data will be moved to the new directory. If you use a custom data path, it will not be changed.

Up to version 8, all data in the registry was stored in a subkey reflecting a PRTG version number (v7 or v8). As of version 9 this subkey is omitted, and registry data is stored directly under the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor (on 32-bit systems) respectively HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Paessler\PRTG Network Monitor (on 64-bit systems). During setup, all existing registry values will be moved to the new key.

We strongly recommend that you have a look at the Detailed System Requirements before updating to the current version! Officially supported operating systems, browsers, and other requirements may have changed since version 8.

Updating from PRTG 7 to Current PRTG Version

Regarding custom sensors, the interpretation of returned values is handled more strictly as of PRTG 8. If you use custom sensors with PRTG 7, these may not work with the current PRTG version if they do not fully apply to the API definition.

Update from Older PRTG Products

For all other predecessor products, a direct data import into the current version is not possible.

If you have been using IPCheck 5 or PRTG Traffic Grapher 6, please perform a clean installation of PRTG Network Monitor and set up your configuration anew. Using the Auto-Discovery in PRTG is the easiest way to quickly configure a monitoring of your entire network.